I am posting this on Fear since it is so applicable to what we are all going though at this time in our evolution. I follow Gommy on FB and she always has thoughtful thoughts to share. I appreciate her insight. Mariann

I was reading The Untethered Soul this morning as I sat on my balcony, looking at the beauty of the ocean. The chapter opened to the topic of fear….and I want to share the wonderful message of the author Michael A. Singer. I have majorly paraphrased his beautiful words….but I hope it helps someone, anyone, everyone….the way it helped me see some things I needed to see and admit.

~Fear is a thing. It’s just another object in the Universe. You can do one of two things with fear; you can recognize that you have it and work to release it….or you can keep it and try to hide from it. When you don’t understand fear objectively, you will end up keeping the fear and try to prevent things from happening that would stimulate the fear.

Then you will go through life attempting to create safety and control by defining how how you need life to be so you will be ‘okay’. Then the world becomes even more frightening.

The author described his theory as removing your ‘inner thorn’ or you could say your ‘stuff’. He suggests that you imagine that you have a thorn in your arm that directly touches a nerve. When the thorn is touched, it’s very painful. Because it hurts so much, the thorn is a serious problem. It’s difficult to sleep because you may roll over on it. It’s hard to get close to people because they might touch it. It makes your daily life very difficult. You can’t even go for a walk in the woods because you might brush the thorn against the branches. This thorn is a constant source of disturbance, and to solve the problem, you only have two choices.

The first choice is to look at your situation and decide that since it’s so disturbing when things touch the thorn, you need to make sure nothing touches it. The second choice is to decide that since it’s so disturbing when things touch it, then you need to take it out. And believe it or not…..the effects of the choice you make will determine the rest of your life.

When you have fear, insecurities or weakness inside you (your stuff), you try to keep it from being stimulated. So you become a control-freak and try to control everyone and everything around you…..in an attempt to keep everything from stimulating this fear. This fear is the part of you that you are not okay with and is not under your control. So you try to control everything around you that may disturb you and your stuff. You then find that you define the whole world around you by what is the most messed up part of your being.

As you grow spiritually, you will come to realize that your attempts to protect yourself from your problems actually create even more problems. You cannot ‘arrange’ people, places and things that disturb you….or you will feel as it is you against everyone and everything else in the world. You will feel that anyone or anything at any moment….has the ability to cause you disturbance. You live your life with the constant threat of something not going the way it ‘should’.

Life WILL create situations that push you to your edges, with the effect of removing what is blocked inside of you. That which is blocked and buried inside you, forms the root of your fear. Something that once happened in your life caused a great impression on you and you locked it inside of you. And that caused a block. Fear is caused by blockages in the flow of your energy. When your energy is blocked, it can’t come up and feed your heart. And you heart will therefore become ‘weak’ or weary.

Who said that the way life naturally unfolds is not all right? Fear says so, that’s who. The part of you that’s not okay with itself can’t face the natural unfolding of life because it’s not under your control. If life unfolds in a way that stimulates your inner problems, then by definition, it’s not okay with you. So what happens in your life then becomes either that which doesn’t disturb you and is okay and that which does disturb you and is not. But then you are actually defining your whole life by the messed up parts that you are just trying to protect and not feel.

The alternative is to decide not to fight with life. You realize and accept that life is not under your control. Life is continuously changing and if you’re trying to control it, you’ll never be able to fully live it. Instead of living life, you will be afraid of life. And that will be very exhausting.

If you really want to grow spiritually (or you may feel more comfortable calling it ‘living peacefully), then you will have to admit that ‘keeping your stuff’ safe is really keeping you trapped. When you ‘let go’ of your stuff….you begin to notice that life is surrounding you with people and situations that stimulate your growth. You won’t have to decide who’s right or wrong and you won’t have to worry about other people’s issues. You only have to be willing to open your heart in the face of anything and everything and allow the purification process to take place (the releasing). At first you will see that situations will unfold that hit your ‘stuff’….but that has been happening your whole life anyway. So the only difference now is that you see it as a good thing and an opportunity to let go and to grow.

There is a ‘law’ that you will learn very early in the game because it is an unavoidable truth. And you will fall many times while trying to adhere to it. The law is very straightforward: When your ‘stuff’ gets hit, let go right then because it will be harder later. It won’t be easier if you explore it or play with it, hoping to take the edge off or try to deny what will make sense if you just let go and stop protecting your ‘stuff’. If you want to be free to your core, you must let go right away because it will not get easier later.

To understand the principle of this ‘law’ you must be aware that there is something within you that needs to be released. You must then be aware that you, the one who notices the ‘stuff’ coming up, are distinct from what you’re experiencing.

If you don’t let go, you’ll notice that the energy that got stimulated in your heart works like a magnet. It’s a phenomenally attracting force that will pull your awareness into it. The next thing you know, you won’t ‘be there’ anymore. You won’t be able to maintain the same perspective that you need to navigate through the disturbance of your ‘stuff’. You will become lost in your ‘stuff’ and say or do things that you will regret. You must let go as soon as you feel the rising of the fear…..or you will get ‘lost’ in it. It happens instantaneously. There is no feeling of going anywhere….you simply lose the fixed point of awareness from which you can be objective.

So try not to ‘fall’ along the way of trying to unblock your ‘stuff’, and just forget to get up. If you think you may have ‘fallen’, try to remember to let go the instant you feel that you may have. Do not rationalize, blame or try to figure it out. Just let go immediately. Take deep breaths and let go. If you feel shame, let it go. If you feel fear, let it go. These are just remnants of the blocked energy that you need to purify and let go.

So, just let go and try not to fall. No matter what. The bigger it is, the higher the reward for letting go will be and the worse the fall if you don’t. That which is holding you down can become a powerful force that raises you up. You just have to be willing to take the first step in letting go of your fears.~

That’s about it in a nutshell peeps. This may be the best gift you ever give yourself. It is a ‘Get Out of Jail’ card….just for a little work on yourself. Remember that not all jails have bars….some are invisible bars. But the good news is you always had the key to get out. You can do it. Gommy is pulling for ya! Hugs and Mush, Gommy